NewzThe indictment was a rare case in which the Israeli authorities pressed charges against an Israeli in the killing of a Palestinian. Rights groups say it is the first time an Israeli settler has been indicted over the killing of a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank since October 2023. Awdah Hathaleen, who worked on the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, was killed last July in occupied West Bank.
It is the first case of its kind in more than seven years amid a rise in settler violence in the West Bank. Israeli prosecutors on Thursday charged a Jewish settler over the killing of a Palestinian community leader last year in the West Bank, the first such indictment in more than seven years amid a rise in settler violence in the occupied territory. In an indictment filed by the State Attorney's office, Yinon Levi is charged with reckless manslaughter in the death of Owdeh Hathaleen, a prominent activist who was involved in the 2025 Oscar-winning documentary "No Other Land".
The charges against Levi also include armed trespassing and malicious property damage during a July 2025 incident in which settlers operated a large excavator in the Palestinian village of Umm al-Khair, setting off a confrontation with residents. Hathaleen filmed the moment he was shot during the confrontation. Footage released by the Israeli rights group B'Tselem shows Levi draw a weapon and fire in Hathaleen's direction.
Hathaleen is then heard moaning as he falls to the ground. Levi, who Britain and the European Union have placed under sanctions over violence against Palestinians, has previously denied firing the shot that killed Hathaleen. Reuters was not able to reach his lawyer for comment.
Rare indictment Thursday's indictment marks the first since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel set off Israel's military assault in Gaza and led to a sharp rise in settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, B'Tselem said. "The decision to indict Yinon Levi is the exception that proves the rule. The impunity Israel grants to soldiers and settlers who harm Palestinians is not a failure of the system — it is a central component of a policy designed to allow the violence to continue and escalate," B'Tselem said.
Another Israeli rights group, Yesh Din, said that an Israeli civilian was last indicted in the killing of a Palestinian in the West Bank in 2019. Israel's military says it investigates instances of wrongdoing by its soldiers and that it and the Israeli police take steps to crack down on settler violence. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have settled among millions of Palestinians in land that Israel captured in a 1967 war, and which Palestinians s…
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